A plane without an engine

(AP, Getty, MIT)

In what could be a major breakthrough for aeronautics, scientists have created an electric airplane with no moving parts in its propulsion system. Since the first man-made flight 115 years ago, aircraft have relied on propellers, turbines, and other moving parts to propel them through the air. This new so-called solid-state craft, developed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, instead uses “ionic wind” technology. Batteries and a high-voltage converter create an electrical field along a series of fine wires. This field knocks electrons from nitrogen in the air, turning them into charged ions. The ions then collide with normal air molecules, creating an ionic wind that’s expelled from the back of the wings, generating thrust. The unmanned prototype craft, which has a 16-foot wingspan and weighs 5.4 pounds, flew nearly 200 feet in one gymnasium test flight, reports The Washington Post. It has a thrust-to-power ratio similar to a jet engine, yet is essentially silent. Lead engineer Steven Barrett admits his flying machine is “still some way away from an aircraft that could perform a useful mission,” and he doesn’t yet know whether the technology can be safely scaled up. Even so, he and his team think ionic wind technology could at the very least lead to quieter drones. ■